Toy phonograph

ABSTRACT

A toy phonograph arranged in a semi-cylindrical housing which is divided into upper and lower compartments. The motor is disposed at a corner of the casing. A turntable is mounted for rotation by the motor on a platform of corresponding semi-cylindrical shape which is supported by one corner on a shaft concentric with the shaft of the motor for movement into and out of the lower compartment. The sound reproducing mechanism is disposed in the upper compartment. The phonograph is provided with automatically acting means for immobilizing the platform when disposed within the lower compartment; the means being manually releasable to permit withdrawal of the platform from the lower compartment.

United States Patent [1 1 Watanabe Mar. 26, 1974 TOY PHONOGRAPH 22 Filed: June 28, 1971 21 App1.No.: 157,241

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Apr. 26, 1971 Japan 46-26679 [56] References Cited 7 UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,475,744 7/1949 Harman 274/2 3,633,923 l/l972 Watanabe 274/1 A FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,176,130 1/1970 Great Britain 274/1 A Primary Examinerbouis R. Prince Assistant Examiner-Steven L. Stephan Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Gottlieb, Rackman, Reisman & Kirsch 57 ABSTRACT A toy phonograph arranged in a semi-cylindrical housing which is divided into upper and lower compartments. The motor is disposed at a corner of the casing. A turntable is mounted for rotation by the motor on a platform of corresponding semi-cylindrical shape which is supported by one corner on a shaft concentric with the shaft of the motor for movement into and out of the lower compartment. The sound reproducing mechanism is disposed in the upper compartment. The phonograph is provided with automatically acting means for immobilizing the platform when disposed within the lower compartment; the means being manually releasable to permit withdrawal of the platform from the lower compartment.

6 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures rah/99 L556 PATENTEB IIAR 26 I974 SHEEI 2 BF 3 FIG-3 mcmmme m SHEEI 3 [1F 3 TOY PHONOGRAPH The present invention relates to toy phonographs suitable for installation in dolls or other toys, of the type utilizing grooved disc records, and relates especially to such toy phonographs having provision for the changing of its disc records.

In toy phonographs of the character described, because of the limited space generally available for installation, compactness is of material importance. Also, in such toy phonographs, low cost is an additional material consideration, in order to make the final product attractively priced for wide distribution. Further, in such toy phonographs, ease and facility of record changing is a very essential feature.

It is, therefore, the object of this invention to provide toy phonographs, of the character described, which are of great compactness and, therefore, occupy a minimum of space and are capable of installation in dolls, or the like, of small sizes.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide toy phonographs, of the character described, which are relatively economical in the use of structural material and simple and easy to assemble and are, therefore, relatively economical to produce.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide toy phonographs, of the character described, in which the supporting means for a changeable and replaceable disc record are firmly held in place and are conveniently disposed for record changing, to thereby make record changing easy, safe and rapid.

The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the toy phonographs of the present invention will become apparent from the embodiment thereof shown in the accompanying drawings and from the description following; it being understood that such embodiment is illustrative and not limiting in intent.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation of one embodiment ofa toy phonograph according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the same;

FIG. 3 is a side elevation of the same;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary top plan view showing the phonograph in position for record changing;

FIG. 5 is a partial front elevation of the phonograph as shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a top plan view of the toy phonograph of FIG. I, with the top casing wall removed;

FIG. 7 is a sectional and partly elevational view through the toy phonograph, with the turntable and record disc indicated in broken lines; and

FIG. 8 is a diagramatic view showing the relationship between a preferred form ofa disc record, sound stylus and control rods for use with the phonograph of the invention and with such disc record.

Generally stated the invention provides for a toy phonograph whose mechanism and parts are housed within a semi-cylindrical casing of somewhat parabolic outline which is divided by a partition normal to its longitudinal axis into upper and lower compartments. The stylus, tone arm and speaker are disposed in the upper compartment. The turntable mounting the disc record is disposed in the lower compartment; being mounted on a platform having a corresponding shape which is pivoted by a corner in the corresponding corner of the lower compartment on a shaft concentric with the shaft of the phonograph motor for movement into and out of the lower compartment.

More specifically stated, the toy phonograph comprises a relatively low, semi-cylindrical casing, A, of ap proximately parabolic outline, including a substantially parabolically shaped peripheral wall. Casing A is divided by a partition, 26, normal to such wall, into an upper compartment, 1, whose front or flat or cord side is closed by a front wall, and into a lower compartment, 2, whose front or cord side is open. A platform B on which is rotationally journalled a turntable, 9, supporting a record, 10, and which is of a shape corresponding to the shape of the casing, A, is pivotally supported at one of its corners on an upright shaft, 3, in the corresponding corner of compartment 2. Platform B is provided with an upright front wall, 4, along its straight edge and a partial, upright, arcuate wall, 5, along its edge portion opposite pivot shaft 3, which wall extends approximately half-way around its curved edge. Wall 5 is provided in its upper edge at its junction with wall 4 with a notch, 7, and at its other end with a downwardly curving cam edge 8. Platform B with its wall 5, are of a height and size to rotate freely into and out of the opening, 18, of the compartment 2 of case A upon its pivot 3.

In the upper compartment 1 of case A, there is provided a bar, 6, which is supported at a mid point on a pivot pin, 17, in overbalancing position, so as to have its downwardly hooked forward or detent end normally overbalanced and engaged in notch 7 when the platform B is disposed within compartment 2, or on cam edge 8 of wall 5, when the platform is in withdrawn position, to thereby maintain platform B steadily in place when playing and for record changing. The other or inner end of bar 6 is engaged by or connected to an ac tuating pin, 15, which extends upwardly and outwardly through the top wall of the casing A for freeing platfonn B from the hooked end of bar 6 when it is desired to withdraw the platform for record changing.

At the lower edge 4 of the front wall of compartment 1, there is mounted a normally open switch, 21 preferably formed of two spaced spring blades anchored by one end in insulated relation to one another. Normally open switch, 21, is arranged to be closed by a pin, 22, connected to front wall, 4, of the platform, B, on its inner face, arranged so that when platform B is fully moved into compartment 2, pin, 22, passes through opening, 23, of the front wall of the upper compartment to press against the outermost of the blades of switch, 21, to bend it into contact with the other of blades to thereby close the switch in the phonograph circuit.

Turntable 9 is mounted on an upright shaft, 27, journalled at substantially the center of platform B; such shaft 27 rising above wall 4 and passing into compartment 1 of the casing, upon inward rotation of platform, B, through port or opening 24 formed in the front wall of compartment 1 and through the cutout opening, 25, formed in the floor, 26, thereof to substantially the center of the casing (FIG. 6).

Compartment A mounts the operating sound reproducing mechanism of the phonograph, including motor 11, whose driving shaft is concentric with the platform B pivot shaft 3, and carries a pulley that drives, by means of a driving belt, the turntable, 9, in a manner which may be readily understood and is conventional in the art and not thought necessary to be specifically illustrated.

Compartment A also mounts the pickup arm 13 carrying the stylus 12 with its conventional needle that extend into compartment 2 through the cutout, 25, of partition, 26, and also the detent bar, 6, and speaker, 14, the latter of which may project into the turret-like chamber formed on the top wall of the casing.

While the grooved disc record 10, mounted on turntable, 9, may be of the conventional, single track type, I prefer to use a multiple track record, such as is diagramatically illustrated in FIG. 8of the drawing. Such record is shown to have a plurality of equally spaced sound grooves, each recording a different sound sequence, any one of which may be optionally freely selected for sound reproduction.

The special type of record of FIG. 8 and the manner of optional selection of the grooves for sound reproduction is described and claimed in the co-pending application, Ser. No. 98,681, and may be herein briefly summarized as follows.

As illustrated in FIG. 8, the record disc 10 has six pieces recorded on its disc surface, starting ends a tof of sound grooves of the respective pieces are formed at equal intervals, and a table protrusion 9 is provided on the side of the turntable 9 fixed to the record disc 10. Thus, the sound stylus 12 attached to the pickup 13 moves radially along the sound grooves a to fwith rotation of the disc. Control rods la to lfof the same number as that of and in the corresponding relation to the respective sound grooves a to f, protrude out of the case A at their upper ends at equal intervals, respectively. They appear in the rotational range of the protrusion 9 to stop it, and thus operates so as to prevent rotation of the record disc 10 thereby bringing the initial points of the sound grooves a to finto coincidence with the position of the sound stylus 12.

-In the illustrated embodiment, reference numeral 19 designates a control ring which defines a circle concentric with the turntable 9 and which is slightly turnable against elastic force of a tension coil (not shown) drawing itself independent of said table. Six protrusions 19 each having a slanting surface are provided at equal intervals at the periphery of the control ring, and one of the control rods 1a to If pressedly slid on the slanting surfaces to appear or disappear is used to rotate the control wheel 19 by a required angle. Therewith, the projection 9 disposed at the periphery of the turntable 9 is stopped by the control rod pressing the slanting surface of one of the projections in the control ring 19 in case of the rotation of the turntable. Thus, the rotation of the turntable is stopped to position the initial point of a required one of the sound grooves in the record disc directly under the sound stylus 12 of the pickup 13. Accordingly, with this type of acoustic equipment, a desired melody may be selected among several pieces recorded on a single disc and it may be reproduced. Hence, when such acoustic equipment is used jointly with the present invention, performance ofa number of pieces may be conducted by preparing only several record discs 10 and with only several times of exchanges of the record discs.

When the record 10 is to be exchanged, actuator pin is depressed, thereby disengaging the hooked nose of bar 6 from notch 7 of wall section 5 and releasing the platform B for movement out of compartment 2; such movement being initiated by the tendency of the outermost of the blades of switch 21 to straighten and push against pin 22; at the same time breaking the circuit through the switch 22. As platform B is firmly sup ported on pivot shaft 3 when in open position and as the turntable 9 is immobilized, the record exchange may be'simply, easily and safely accomplished.

When the platform B is pushed into the lower compartment 2 after the exchange, the hook end of the detent bar 6, which has descended into the notch 7 till then on account of depression of a speaker-holding arm 16 due to elastic force of a expansion spring 20 disposed between the upper wall of the upper case compartment l and a loudspeaker 14, is first pushed upwards by means of the arcuate-surface cam 8 at the terminal end of the are side edge 5 of the platform B. Simultaneously therewith, the sound stylus 12 of the pickup 13 is also drawn up from the sound grooves a to fof the record disc 10. When the frame B is sufficiently inserted into the lower compartment 2, the hook end of the stopper 6 first falls into the notch 7, and at the same time, the sound stylus 12 having once drawn up is also fitted into the sound groove of the record disc. Therefore, the disc surface is never damaged by the egress and ingress of the underframe B.

A torsion spring 28 is mounted on a pivot 29 in the pickup 13. The spring functions to depress the pickup 13 so as to put the sound stylus 12 into the sound groove of the record disc until the pickup reaches the central part of the record disc 10 from the outer periphery, whereas it operates so as to contrariwise pull the sound stylus 12 away from the sound groove in case where the pickup 13 is brought back to the starting po' sition of the record disc. In case where, as described above, the platform B is inserted into the lower compartment 2 and the front end of the pickup 13 is forcedly drawn up by means of the arc-surface cam 8 of the side 5 of the frame, the spring 28 functions so as to pull the sound stylus 12 away from the sound groove.

Unless the actuator 15 is pressed down again, the platform B inserted into the lower case compartment 2 as described above will never rush out of the lower case compartment 2, and the contents will be perfectly received and protected.

Moreover, upon depression of anoptional one of the control rods 1a to If, the electric circuit is made to drive the driving motor 11, the record disc 10 is rotated together with the turntable 9, and the initial end of one of the sound grooves a to f thereof is fitted with the sound stylus 12 of the pickup 13, whereby a desired melody may be played.

When the record disc has turned to the position at which the terminal end of the one of the record grooves a to fis fitted with the stylus 12, the electric circuit is automatically opened to stop the rotation of the record disc. Simultaneously therewith, the pickup 13 returns to the initial-end position of the sound groove while it is raised by the spring 28, as in the foregoing. And yet, the toy phonograph of the present invention is very simple in construction and easy in handling.

I claim:

1. In a toy phonograph comprising a casing of substantially semi-cylindrical contour defining a curved wall, a straight wall portion, and a corner; said casing divided into an upper and a lower compartment by a partition substantially normal to the cylindrical axis of the case; a motor mounted at said corner of said casing,

said motor having a shaft parallel to the cylindrical axis of said casing, said shaft extending into said lower compartment and adapted to be operably engaged with a turntable; said turntable including a turntable shaft; a platform for supporting said turntable on said turntable shaft at a mid-point of said platform, said platform defining a straight edge and having first and second corners, said first corner secured to a pivot shaft concentric with the shaft of said motor for pivotally mounting said platform for movement into and out of said lower compartment; a pickup arm movably supported in said upper compartment and having a stylus connected to said pickup arm at one end thereof; a speaker and means moving said pickup arm; said partition having a cut-out portion extending inwardly from the plane of said straight wall portion such that said turntable shaft is adapted to extend through said cut-out portion into said upper compartment and such that said stylus is adapted to extend through said cut-out portion into said lower compartment.

2. The toy phonograph of claim 1, including cooperating means disposed in said upper compartment and adapted to cooperate with said platform for automatically inter-engaging said platform upon movement of said platform into said lower compartment to prevent movement of said platform out from said lower compartment, and manually operable means extending to the exterior of the casing for releasing said cooperating means for allowing movement of said platform out from said lower compartment.

3. The toy phonograph of claim 2, wherein said coopcrating means comprises an upright arcuate wall portion along said edge of said platform, said upright wall portion extending inwardly from said second corner, said upright wall portion having at one end a detent notch formed in its upper edge contiguous to the straight edge of said platform and a downwardly curv' ing cam edge at its other end, and a bar having a depending detent nose pivotally supported in said upper compartment in position to have its inner end engaged by such cam edge portion upon movement of said platform inwardly into said lower compartment to thereby have said detent nose engaged in said detent notch, and wherein said means releasing said cooperating means includes a pin movably mounted in said casing and extending outwardly thereof, said pin resting on the inner end of said bar.

4. The phonograph of claim 3,, wherein a normally open switch connectable in the circuit of the said motor is mounted in said upper compartment, and wherein means are provided on said platform for closing said switch when said platform is moved into said lower compartment.

5. The phonograph of claim 4, wherein said normally open switch comprises a pair of parallel spring elements secured in insulated space relation to one another by one end and lying in a plane substantially parallel to the plane of said platform, and means are provided on said platform for moving one of said elements into contact with the other when said platform is moved into said lower compartment, whereby said switch is closed and remains in closed position while said platform remains in said lower compartment.

6. The toy phonograph of claim 5, wherein an upright wall is provided along the straight edge of said platform and said means for moving said elements comprises an inwardly extending pin on said upright wall, said pin adapted to extend into said upper compartment when said platform is moved into said lower compartment to thereby engage the adjacent one of said elements and move it into contact with the other of said elements, to

thereby close said switch. 

1. In a toy phonograph comprising a casing of substantially semi-cylindrical contour defining a curved wall, a straight wall portion, and a corner; said casing divided into an upper and a lower compartment by a partition substantially normal to the cylindrical axis of the case; a motor mounted at said corner of said casing, said motor having a shaft parallel to the cylindrical axis of said casing, said shaft extending into said lower compartment and adapted to be operably engaged with a turntable; said turntable including a turntable shaft; a platform for supporting said turntable on said turntable shaft at a midpoint of said platform, said platform defining a straight edge and having first and second corners, said first corner secured to a pivot shaft concentric with the shaft of said motor for pivotally mounting said platform for movement into and out of said lower compartment; a pickup arm movably supported in said upper compartment and having a stylus connected to said pickup arm at one end thereof; a speaker and means moving said pickup arm; said partition having a cut-out portion extending inwardly from the plane of said straight wall portion such that said turntable shaft is adapted to extend through said cut-out portion into said upper compartment and such that said stylus is adapted to extend through said cut-out portion inTo said lower compartment.
 2. The toy phonograph of claim 1, including cooperating means disposed in said upper compartment and adapted to cooperate with said platform for automatically inter-engaging said platform upon movement of said platform into said lower compartment to prevent movement of said platform out from said lower compartment, and manually operable means extending to the exterior of the casing for releasing said cooperating means for allowing movement of said platform out from said lower compartment.
 3. The toy phonograph of claim 2, wherein said cooperating means comprises an upright arcuate wall portion along said edge of said platform, said upright wall portion extending inwardly from said second corner, said upright wall portion having at one end a detent notch formed in its upper edge contiguous to the straight edge of said platform and a downwardly curving cam edge at its other end, and a bar having a depending detent nose pivotally supported in said upper compartment in position to have its inner end engaged by such cam edge portion upon movement of said platform inwardly into said lower compartment to thereby have said detent nose engaged in said detent notch, and wherein said means releasing said cooperating means includes a pin movably mounted in said casing and extending outwardly thereof, said pin resting on the inner end of said bar.
 4. The phonograph of claim 3, wherein a normally open switch connectable in the circuit of the said motor is mounted in said upper compartment, and wherein means are provided on said platform for closing said switch when said platform is moved into said lower compartment.
 5. The phonograph of claim 4, wherein said normally open switch comprises a pair of parallel spring elements secured in insulated space relation to one another by one end and lying in a plane substantially parallel to the plane of said platform, and means are provided on said platform for moving one of said elements into contact with the other when said platform is moved into said lower compartment, whereby said switch is closed and remains in closed position while said platform remains in said lower compartment.
 6. The toy phonograph of claim 5, wherein an upright wall is provided along the straight edge of said platform and said means for moving said elements comprises an inwardly extending pin on said upright wall, said pin adapted to extend into said upper compartment when said platform is moved into said lower compartment to thereby engage the adjacent one of said elements and move it into contact with the other of said elements, to thereby close said switch. 